Fordman: Forgot to mention that our 3G Cellular Broadband-Internet Routers have an externally mounted SMA connector to allow a high-gain GSM Antennae to boost preformance, the router also has an embedded 3G Modem/Module (just insert the sim-card)

The local president of Federated Farmers (ivan) has a 2D- 3G Rural Broadband connection now, and he is wrapped with its preformance in comparision to other systems he has had in the past.

I've been getting about 8-12 mbps on my phone around Timaru, usually ~without~ the hspa+ icon popping up, which is pretty impressive. I think the only site with hspa+ right now is the one downtown mounted on that ugly old council building.

"2degrees uses their 900MHz band in the 3 main cities (Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch), about 10MHz, for GSM900 only. This means if you are a 3G 2degrees customer you will be using UMTS2100MHz in these 3 main cities for data and voice. The disadvantage of this, is 2100MHz does not propagate as far as 900MHz (particularly inbuilding coverage). So, often you may find your 3G smartphone hands down to 2degrees 900MHz GSM. When it does this you will be on Edge GSM which is much slower than UMTS. The reason why 2degrees do not offer 900MHz UMTS in these 3 main cities is they need the complete 10MHz band for GSM (due to capacity reasons). However as of this month the 2degrees team have done some careful frequency retuning and have managed to open (or about to open) a 5MHz channel in their 900MHz band to turn on UMTS 900MHZ. This is great news for degrees customers as it means, shortly in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch (as of the rest of the 2degrees network), 3G smartphones will now hand down to UMTS900 rather than GSM900 when on cell edge. So much faster speeds for 2degrees 3G customers.(Sorry that was long winded, but it is complicated). Congratulations 2degrees!"

Publius: Hi, I'm the author of map.geek.nz. If you go there and click on the KML link you'll get a break-down of the 900mhz sites.

With 2D things are a little tricky to break down between 900mhz 2g and 900mhz 3g. Basically there is no way to tell for sure but pretty much non-AKL/WEL/CHC/QTN sites have 900mhz 3g.

As for Dual Channel, there's no way to tell from the radio licence info. They have applied for license to use both of their 5mhz channels at all sites, so thats no help.

I believe 2D did a HSPA+ rollout last year to give their sites a speed boost upto 21mbps but as to how extensively this was rolled out I have no idea. Logic would suggest doing this in the densest locations first, ie cities.

I applaud 2d if they do upgrade their original 4 cities to 900mhz 3g. This is why XT still wins for being the best network as XT has complete (100% sites) 850mhz 3g coverage even in cities where 2d/voda are using 2100mhz 3g.

I think there is a problem with that map. It doesnt show VF around Martinborough for example, or XT on the coast south of there and has a temporary site for La Le Da listed as the only XT in the area.

It's been a long time since I looked at the map but it does appear to be missing quite a few sites that are in the PRISM database. I wonder if it's an issue with the number of elements that can be displayed?

sbiddle: It's been a long time since I looked at the map but it does appear to be missing quite a few sites that are in the PRISM database. I wonder if it's an issue with the number of elements that can be displayed?

Maybe Snowden just had an old copy.

iPad Air + iPhone SE + 2degrees 4tw!

These comments are my own and do not represent the opinions of 2degrees.

sbiddle: It's been a long time since I looked at the map but it does appear to be missing quite a few sites that are in the PRISM database. I wonder if it's an issue with the number of elements that can be displayed?

Maybe Snowden just had an old copy.

I don't think so, there are areas in Wgtn for example where XT and VF sites that have literally been around forever aren't showing.

Publius: Hi, I'm the author of map.geek.nz. If you go there and click on the KML link you'll get a break-down of the 900mhz sites.

With 2D things are a little tricky to break down between 900mhz 2g and 900mhz 3g. Basically there is no way to tell for sure but pretty much non-AKL/WEL/CHC/QTN sites have 900mhz 3g.

As for Dual Channel, there's no way to tell from the radio licence info. They have applied for license to use both of their 5mhz channels at all sites, so thats no help.

I believe 2D did a HSPA+ rollout last year to give their sites a speed boost upto 21mbps but as to how extensively this was rolled out I have no idea. Logic would suggest doing this in the densest locations first, ie cities.

I applaud 2d if they do upgrade their original 4 cities to 900mhz 3g. This is why XT still wins for being the best network as XT has complete (100% sites) 850mhz 3g coverage even in cities where 2d/voda are using 2100mhz 3g.

I think there is a problem with that map. It doesnt show VF around Martinborough for example, or XT on the coast south of there and has a temporary site for La Le Da listed as the only XT in the area.

I have had a few problems with the Google maps api. Try the Google Earth KML file from http://map.geek.nz/archive/ and see if that's any different.

liam: This is great news for degrees customers as it means, shortly in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch (as of the rest of the 2degrees network), 3G smartphones will now hand down to UMTS900 rather than GSM900 when on cell edge.

This would be really good because I find that my phone frequently cuts over to edge in the Wellington CBD which I'm guessing is due to concrete structures weaking the 2100MHz signal, and this probably tends to get aggravated by cell breathing during peak times.

sbiddle: It's been a long time since I looked at the map but it does appear to be missing quite a few sites that are in the PRISM database. I wonder if it's an issue with the number of elements that can be displayed?

Maybe Snowden just had an old copy.

I don't think so, there are areas in Wgtn for example where XT and VF sites that have literally been around forever aren't showing.

sbiddle: It's been a long time since I looked at the map but it does appear to be missing quite a few sites that are in the PRISM database. I wonder if it's an issue with the number of elements that can be displayed?

Maybe Snowden just had an old copy.

I don't think so, there are areas in Wgtn for example where XT and VF sites that have literally been around forever aren't showing.

Oh dear.

I know of a few Vodafone sites too that don't show up.

Chorus has spent $1.4 billion on making their xDSL broadband network faster. If your still stuck on ADSL or VDSL, why not spend from $150 on a master filter install to make sure you are getting the most out of your connection?I install - Naked DSL, DSL Master Splitters, VoIP, data cabling and general computer support for home and small business.Rural Broadband RBI installer for Ultimate Broadband and Full Flavour

sbiddle: It's been a long time since I looked at the map but it does appear to be missing quite a few sites that are in the PRISM database. I wonder if it's an issue with the number of elements that can be displayed?

Maybe Snowden just had an old copy.

I don't think so, there are areas in Wgtn for example where XT and VF sites that have literally been around forever aren't showing.

Oh dear.

I know of a few Vodafone sites too that don't show up.

Double oh dear.

iPad Air + iPhone SE + 2degrees 4tw!

These comments are my own and do not represent the opinions of 2degrees.

Can u please give me some concrete example of sites that aren't on my map, I'll look into it. The Google maps api has a bug that for any sites with exactly the same lat/long only one pin appears. So any co-located sites are a problem. But as far as I'm aware my KML files have all sites displaying correctly http://map.geek.nz/archive/. But happy to look into it if you can give me some examples of it not working.

Can u please give me some concrete example of sites that aren't on my map, I'll look into it. The Google maps api has a bug that for any sites with exactly the same lat/long only one pin appears. So any co-located sites are a problem. But as far as I'm aware my KML files have all sites displaying correctly http://map.geek.nz/archive/. But happy to look into it if you can give me some examples of it not working.

Haven't checked the KML but I can see on the Google Maps that there are heaps of rural sites missing. E.g. a pretty large number of sites between Auckland and Hamilton don't show up at all. There's nothing between Pukekohe and Huntly for example and I know there are many sites across VF/Telecom along SH 1 between these two towns.

Probably just a Google Maps issue with large numbers of markers (as has been mentioned earlier). You could work around it by providing separte maps for each network and/or splitting the maps into regions.

Chorus has spent $1.4 billion on making their xDSL broadband network faster. If your still stuck on ADSL or VDSL, why not spend from $150 on a master filter install to make sure you are getting the most out of your connection?I install - Naked DSL, DSL Master Splitters, VoIP, data cabling and general computer support for home and small business.Rural Broadband RBI installer for Ultimate Broadband and Full Flavour